The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~Wendell Berry~

Each one of us can remember

times when nature provided us solace, beauty, surprise, and adventure. Nature-based psychotherapy believes that all life is intertwined, and that there is an essential relationship between humans and the natural world, a relationship that has become fractured in our modern times. Nature-based psychotherapy encourages the renewal of this relationship, whether through idiom, metaphor, expanding our senses, or sitting and walking in nature during psychotherapy sessions. We learn to observe, be silent, surrender our egos, and pay more attention to the cycles and rhythms of our lives. We become re-connected to their energies, feel more at peace, and transform any stress we are holding.

Nature as Vitamin N

Richard Louv, who coined the term “Nature-Deficit Disorder” also speaks of Vitamin N, Nature. He describes numerous scientific studies that demonstrate the positive effects that being in nature has on most aspects of our lives. These include: mental acuity, creativity, intelligence, recovery from mental fatigue, restoration of attention, restoration of the brain’s ability to process information, and problem solving. Thus, simply, being in nature improves both physical and mental health. Nature provides the aesthetic and spiritual experiences that have forever fueled faith, art, literature, and music. Louv is convinced that “a reconnection to the natural world is fundamental to human health, well-being, spirit, and survival.”

Being Outside

At SOUND Center in Newtown, when the weather is agreeable, we can choose to sit outside near the pond, or walk on the trail behind the building, which was formerly a wedding chapel. We can bring in the beauty and the healing powers of nature to reduce stress, introduce feelings of calm and peacefulness, and contribute to your greater sense of well-being.